Witty Wife, Better Life
Chapter 220 - 213 is full of talented people.

Chapter 220: Chapter 213 is full of talented people.

Li Hongxing’s family, of course, had to stay for lunch. Shen Yunfang looked at the three children with their pitiful expressions and couldn’t help but soften her heart. She couldn’t bring out the pork, and the chickens at home were uncatchable, so she decided to kill a few quails for the children.

Including herself, there were six people in total. She went to the quail cage in the backyard and picked out the one that had been raised the longest, grabbing a dozen quails.

That really wasn’t a small number; one cage held one hundred quails, and now she had taken a tenth of them.

Quails are naturally small, only a bit larger than sparrows, and they are quite easy to handle when cleaning.

Wang Dan saw Shen Yunfang boiling water to scald the quails and couldn’t help but criticize. She muttered under her breath about how these tiny quails hardly had any meat on them and how it was inappropriate to serve such things to guests, as it seemed rather shabby.

Shen Yunfang ignored her, as if she hadn’t heard her at all. Truth be told, she was already regretting having killed those quails.

Seeing Shen Yunfang not responding, Wang Dan changed tack and said there were too few quails; they would be gone in just a couple of bites. She insisted they should kill more so everyone could have their fill.

Shen Yunfang didn’t engage in that conversation either. As for letting them have their fill, her own backyard’s cages wouldn’t have much left then. It was better to just have a taste.

The twelve quails were cleaned in no time, and Shen Yunfang planned to stew them. Quails are so small that frying them would taste better and be more fragrant, but others, when cooking, would only dare to wipe a cloth soaked in oil around the pot. If she were to pour a whole pot of oil to fry them for Li Hongxing’s family, it would be seen as showing off her wealth, and there’s no telling what rumors would spread afterward. Best to keep things simple.

She stewed a large pot with twelve quails and six large potatoes. Shen Yunfang also stuck cornmeal cakes around the edge of the pot, making it a meal with both meat and staples.

The food in the pot wasn’t ready yet, but the children were already drooling in front of the stove. Shen Yunfang looked at the row of little heads on the ground and suddenly thought that having many children could be pretty fun.

The lunch was lively; the number of quails was fixed. As she served them at the table, Shen Yunfang, worried the children might fight over the food, divvied up the quails in the plate beforehand, giving each person two so no one would argue or snatch.

The two older children didn’t care that the quails in their bowls were still hot and started stuffing them into their mouths, hissing from the heat but not willing to spit out the meat.

"Hot, slow down, there’s no need to rush," said Shen Yunfang, who couldn’t bear to watch any longer and quickly poured each of them a glass of cool boiled water.

However, the two children didn’t listen at all; they were completely focused on the meat in their hands.

Shen Yunfang shook her head; these two children acted like hungry wolves. She turned to speak with her sister-in-law, intending to comment that such a way of eating wasn’t proper. Yet as she turned and immediately turned back, she just lowered her head and continued with her own meal.

Well, there’s nothing to say; one couldn’t blame the children, as they were just following what they saw.

When Shen Yunfang looked over, Li Hongxing and Wang Dan had already finished one quail each, and only a bite was left of the other. Most importantly, the table was spotlessly clean, not a single bone in sight. That meant this couple chewed the quails completely, bones and all, wasting nothing.

Wang Dan polished off the remaining quail with a smack of her lips, unsatisfied. She hadn’t filled her stomach at all and complained that two quails per person were too few. With several more cages in the backyard, why be so stingy? Nothing would come out of killing a few more.

She turned to look at her youngest son, who was using his grubby little hands to hold and lick a quail.

Sandan was just over two years old, gnawing on a bone was somewhat forced for him.

Wang Dan reached out and snatched an untouched quail from her youngest son’s bowl.

Seeing his meat taken away, Sandan’s little face scrunched up, looking like he was about to cry.

Wang Dan broke the quail in half, gave one half to her man, and saw her youngest son’s aggrieved look. Angrily, she slapped his hand away, "What are you looking at, eat quickly! You’re so small, how can you eat so much? Don’t waste it."

Sandan reluctantly picked up his quail and started gnawing at it again.

Before long, Wang Dan had finished her half of the quail, glanced at her son who was still scrabbling away with his little teeth, and then reached out to snatch the quail from the child’s hands again.

This time Sandan would not stand for it, what’s this, my meat, you’re all snatching it away, so he couldn’t hold back any longer and burst into tears with a "wah".

"You damn child, what’s there to cry about, haven’t seen meat before or what? I’m your own mother, would I steal from you? Shut up this instant, wait—I’ll pick the meat out for you," Wang Dan impatiently tore a leg off the quail and handed it to her youngest son.

Sandan was young and not very suspicious, seeing his mother giving him meat again, he wiped his tears, took the tiny leg and stuffed it into his mouth, clamping down with his little teeth, afraid someone might come to snatch his meat again.

Goudan and Erdan were more scheming, starting by competing to eat, first gnawing the first quail to a bare half-shell, cleaning most of the meat off and leaving the bone frame in the bowl, then attacking the second one. They ate this one more meticulously, sucking clean even the tiny ribs on the quail’s chest and belly, and after finishing the second quail carefully, they started re-gnawing the first one again.

Shen Yunfang just watched this family meal as if it were a play. Judging from the two children’s behavior, this way of eating was the result of long-term competition for food.

Watching the two children savoring a bone in their mouths unwilling to spit it out, Shen Yunfang sighed and gave them each a quail from her own bowl. If they were her own kids, she as a mother would feel so heartbroken.

This meal was indeed varied and made her realize how fortunate she was in her daily life.

It was at this moment that she realized, oh, it’s normal to scramble for food like this at this time. She seldom ate at other people’s homes, and even when going to Uncle Shen’s place, since there was never any meat, she hadn’t seen such a scene.

After eating lunch, the family of five with Li Hongxing was ready to go home. Wang Dan dawdled and would not leave the courtyard, and Shen Yunfang pretended not to notice, acting oblivious to the fact that she hadn’t had her fill of quail and wanted to take some with her.

Shen Yunfang couldn’t indulge her in this bad habit; they had come empty-handed to visit, and she, as the sister-in-law and aunt, had already hosted a lavish lunch, so there was no chance they were taking anything with them when leaving.

Seeing Shen Yunfang so unwilling to oblige, Wang Dan huffed, muttered something under her breath, and stormed off.

Even the two kids had more sense than her; before leaving, they came up to their aunt and said softly, "Auntie, your house is really nice. Can we come again? Next time, will you stew little birds for us to eat?"

Shen Yunfang always had a soft spot for children. Looking at the two kids gazing hopefully at her, she unconsciously nodded, "Sure, you can come. But grow up quickly, and when you can come to your aunt’s house on your own, I will definitely make something delicious for you."